Mid–Staffs scandal must be springboard for reform

FROM the start of the present century a torrent of extra money was poured into the National Health Service, turning it into a £100billion a year entity.

PUBLISHED: 12:20, Thu, Feb 7, 2013

The NHS is in desperate need of reform

So whatever was the root cause of the "appalling care" prevalent at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2009, causing 1,200 unnecessary deaths, it was clearly not a lack of spending.

When the last Labour government turned on the money tap many, including some of its own ministers, were uneasy that cash was being poured into a fundamentally unreformed and unaccountable system, in which the voices of patients and their families were not properly heard.

While the Francis Report into the scandal left relatives of those who died disappointed by failing to pin the blame on particular health bosses, it left nobody doubting the extent of the failings that took place.

The Prime Minister was right to characterise what happened at Stafford Hospital as "truly dreadful"

The Prime Minister was right to characterise what happened as "truly dreadful" and must now deliver the change of culture demanded in a report that calls for priority to be given to "putting the patient first". Given the power of vested interests in the NHS that is much easier said than done.

If the British people are to maintain faith in the NHS then trade unions representing its doctors, nurses and managers can no long be permitted to veto reforms they find unpalatable.

Shift patterns must primarily reflect the interests of patients rather than staff, nurses who are too grand to carry out basic nursing must be eliminated from the service and empire–building bureaucrats weeded out.

The NHS is one of the proudest creations of post–war Britain but if patient care is ever again allowed to become a secondary consideration its future will be placed in severe doubt.